Bush Dog

(Speothos venaticus)

Facts

IUCN NEAR THREATENED (NT)

Facts about this animal

The bush dog is a small, stout dog, more like a mustelid (badger). It is uniformly dark brown in colour with short legs. The head-body length is 60-65 cm, the height is 25-30 cm and it weights 6-8 kg. It has a snub-nosed head with short ears (3.5 cm).

At the shoulders, the brown-reddish colour of the head turns into the dark brown of the rest of the body. The under parts are also dark. The coat is short and coarse. The tail is very short, well-furred and black.

The bush dog is a cooperative hunter of the Neotropical rainforest, feeding mainly on rodents that are large relative to its own size. It is social and, for intraspecific communication mainly employs short-distance signals, which promote approach behaviour (tail-wagging), reduce intraspecific aggression (displays of active submission), and allow the maintenance of constant contact in the forest (the squeak vocalization).

Did you know?
That female bush dogs mark their territory by reversing up to trees and urinating on the trunk from a handstand position? In bush dogs both, males and females, scent mark their territory with urine. Males do it, like domestic dogs, by cocking a hind leg at 90 degrees.

In the Zoo

How this animal should be transported

Why do zoos keep this animal

The bushdog is a vulnerable species with a relatively small wild population. With a view of building up a viable self-sustaining zoo population, an International Studbook has been established already in 1972 under the WAZA umbrella, and coordinated conservation breeding programmes are operated at the regional level by AZA and EAZA.